Well, we made it to the Alps all in one piece, and only one bag was lost in transit, and luckily that wasn’t a bike, so no major dramas there!!!
It’s fair to say the chalet we are staying in is awesome. It’s an old farm building that is a few centuries old, but has been done up beautifully. There’s also loads of room, with a studio out in a separate building, an apartment for 6, and plenty of room in the main building too. Plus the food is incredible….!
So, the first day was a leisurely introduction to the Samoens area, but somehow I still managed to clock up 46K!! Once everyone had got their bikes sorted and thrown down a great breakfast it was time to spin up the Valley towards the Fer Cheval and “The End of the World”! This area is a stunning glacial valley, and even though it was summer there was still a bit of unmelted snow, and there were countless waterfalls to look at.
Lucky we were blessed with great weather, but clearly there had been a lot of rain and wash-off previously, which had even washed away one of the bridges. But rather than going back the same way, we chose to undertake an impromptu river-crossing. And then lunch!!
After that it was time have a crack at a little single-track…. But unfortunately it suddenly became clear that every small child within 100km of the area suddenly decided it was time to also try walking and singing with teachers along the trails.. opps!!! But at least we pushed them out of the way at the waterfall!!
Anyway, after a fun cruise back to town, a few of us headed off for an extra 15k loop, whilst the rest hit the pub and coffee shop in town. Then it was back to the Chalet for a well earned glass of champagne and a 3 course meal!
Friday started off looking OK, but the forecast was not too flash. We decided to pop over into Les Gets, but were careful not to get too carried away. However we did get a chance to try a few downhill runs, and enjoy a few chairlifts to help with the climbs….
But then, as fate would have it, the heavens opened as we were having a bite to eat in Les Gets….. which was a wonderful excuse for half the group to shoot off and grab a coffee!
The lightening caused the closure of the lift we needed, but luckily it opened an hour later, and we were able to enjoy an awesome 1000m descent back down to Samoens.
The forecast was also poor for Saturday, but we decided to give it a go, and luckily the forecast was wrong- low dark clouds were all around, but we never got rained on once and the trails were fairly dry. We started off dropping into Les Gets, then headed off around Mont Chery, on what we like to call the ‘Dangerous trail’, although this did scare a few of the guys!!
The trail starts off pretty mellow, then right at the end turns into a challenging rollercoaster of a trail dug into into a steep cliff, which regularly gets washed away- it’s a great bit of trail.
Then it was off to Morzine to check out the bike show for the Passportes. The day was finished again with a 1000m descent along more secret singletrack… all in all a 52km day.
Then it was back to the chalet (after the manduatory stop at the bar in town for a pint of ‘edelwisse’!) and time to prepare for the Passportes tomorrow…..!
More photos are here….